Workout Splits - Pulling the Curtains Back on an Upper/Lower Body Split

What is an Upper/Lower Body Split?

Workout splits bring structure as well as a simple way to track your progress. With a variety of ways your workouts can be divided, the ‘Upper Body & Lower Body’ split is one of the most renowned and popular splits. It is most often used for less experienced weight lifters who are looking to put on muscle both effectively and efficiently. However, do note that many experienced weight lifters still use this method of working out.

Pros & Cons of an Upper/Lower Body Split

An upper & lower body split is oftentimes used to maximize muscle mass because of the fact that each muscle group can be trained up to 3x per week. Such a split is also used for muscle hypertrophy as a result of, once again, the high significantly high training volume, ideal to maximize muscle growth.

However, do note that upper/lower body splits do have limitations. As a result of the high training volume of the split, it makes it harder to recover from. Longer recovery times can oftentimes be neglected, resulting in decreased performance, as well as lower muscle recovery time. Both of which ultimately hinder gym progress.

Regardless, following your program and listening to your body will easily help you succeed at the gym.

That said, this split also provides a relative amount of flexibility. With the split working out all muscle groups in the span of two days, people can easily alter the number of rest days, and workdays per week while still working all-important muscles. For example:

Option a.)

Monday: Upper Body Tuesday: Rest Wednesday: Rest Thursday: Lower Body Friday: Rest Saturday: Rest Sunday: Rest

Option b.)

Monday: Upper Body Tuesday: Lower Body Wednesday: Rest Thursday: Upper Body Friday: Lower Body Saturday: Rest Sunday: Rest

Option c.)

Monday: Upper Body Tuesday: Lower Body Wednesday: Upper Body Thursday: Lower Body Friday: Upper Body Saturday: Lower Body Sunday: Rest

With various combinations of rest/workdays, a lower & upper body split provides flexibility, ideal for those with busy schedules, or limited workout days.

As mentioned, a lot of beginners tend to use this split because of the nature of its simplicity. Many other splits are divided based on the motion of each respective muscle, which can be a complicated topic to grasp for newbies. A lower/upper body split is self-explanatory and straightforward.

With new weight lifters often being intimidated by the amount of prior knowledge supposedly needed to start working out, a simple split is an efficient way to start, without overcomplicating things. Additionally, a simple workout split allows beginner weight lifters to focus on more important things such as form or diet.

Key Takeaways

Carefully picking your split is one of the most crucial parts going into weight lifting, and therefore should be accurately chosen. An upper/lower body split allows for the number of workdays to be altered, is simple for beginners, yet effective for those with any level of experience, and lastly maximizes muscle growth, as long as recovery days are regularly taken.

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Workout Splits - The Fondation

Importance of Workout Splits

Everyone wants to have some level of fitness; whether it’s for a sport, for aesthetics, or even to go through a fitness journey, being fit is a growing point of interest. That said, having a fit body comes with dedication, consistency, as well as general knowledge about what is needed to attain your fitness goals. Both dedication and consistency come with your attitude going into the gym, while general knowledge comes with experience, research, and a solid foundation about key aspects of weight lifting.

One of those key aspects is your workout splits. Workout splits are essentially the way you split or divide the different muscle groups you train, usually relative to a week-long time frame. Each workout split is different from one another. Choosing the right one is crucial to the development of your body.

For example, the combination of Chest, Shoulder, and Tricep muscles (Push) on one day, Back and Biceps (Pull) on the next, and Legs (Legs) on the last day, is a workout split often used by athletes. Push-Pull-Legs, or often referred to as PPL, is normally used by athletes because of the nature of the movements, and how training those specific movements together adds to athletic development, for example.

On the other hand, many other different types of workout splits can be used to match every one of your particular targets. Whether your goal is cutting fat, building muscle, maintaining body shape, or even bodybuilding, I guarantee a workout split can be created to align with your respective individual objectives.

Start now, by reading a quick synopsis of each of the different workout splits below to see which one relates most to you and your goals!